Fallout: Breach
by anundeadturning
Summary: Follow the story of three men in Post-Apocalyptic America. A compassionate survivalist, a confused NCR soldier, and a devout and rising Legionnaire. Though the characters will never meet, they will have an impact on the Mojave, and each other. There's a bit of AU elements and these are all OC characters, with some story characters being in at times. Shouldn't drink and post kids...


Fallout: Breach

The warm air of the Mojave blew against his face. To his right, a sand storm was blowing through, almost blocking his view of the massive Helios One station. The sand storm was beginning to blow over the war-torn road he walked along. The man bore a Bounty Hunter Duster, which kept most of the harsh climate from the storm off of his skin. Underneath that, he wore black painted combat armor, fit to stop small arms fire while retaining his agility. His weapons were simple, but effective when used properly. He traveled light, only carrying a scoped Hunting Rifle, a nine millimeter handgun, and a combat knife. In his bag, he kept stimpacks, food, water, and other assorted goods to keep him alive through his travels. The man had just traveled from the One-eight-eight trading post, where he paid an arms merchant for a couple of stimpacks. He figured he would head towards Novac and see if he could find any work, perhaps he could get enough caps to put a custom bolt on his rifle for faster shooting.

While the storm was raging hard, and it was hard for him to hear, the man could sense the presence of someone behind him. _Could be a Caravan_, he thought. That thought was quickly shoved aside when he remembered that Caravans travel in groups, and large ones when they hire mercenaries for protection. He would keep walking, although his unsettled hair was beginning to be bothersome. He tried to shake the feeling that someone was behind him, but he would glance behind him every now and then to see if he could confirm his suspicions. Without any visual luck, he would have to keep moving, and so he did. After a few minutes of walking, he approached a bridge that passed over the road he walked on. He looked up and saw it was stable, and safe to walk under. The man took one final look behind him, about a half-mile back, where the sand storm had settled a bit, and noticed a figure appearing out of the storm.

The man, after crossing under the bridge, looked up at the dinosaur towering overhead. There was a sniper standing there with a scoped aimed at him. The man looked like a Khan, but oddly enough, he wore an NCR first recon Beret. Walker had been to Novac plenty of times before hand, but he had never met either one of the two snipers posted up there. Walking into the settlement, he passed two different Caravans which were walking in the direction of the person following him. _Following_ might not have been the correct term, but it was the closest he could come to the correct one. After opening and passing through the gate, he turned right and walked up the steps into the torso of the dinosaur. After opening and closing the door as he walked into the small shop owned by a man named Cliff Briscoe.

"Hey, ya came back Walker! Gotta be doing something right." said the store owner. Cliff lifted himself off of the wall and moved towards the cash register, where he stored bottle caps that were used in trade and barter. On the counter were a few miscellaneous items, along with 'Dino Toys' that the man could never seem to sell.

Walker grinned and moved closer to the counter, "Hey, at least you aren't robbing me blind every time I walk in here." The two of them shared a short laugh at the joke. They both knew that the snipers at the mouth of the dinosaur used to be NCR, and everybody knew that the NCR taxed the hell out of anybody that traded with them.

"Well I know you didn't come in here looking to chat me up. Are you buying or selling?" Cliff asked.

"Looking for some work, actually." Walker replied kindly.

"Sorry, wish there was something I could give you. Mercenaries are coming through here by the dozens, all looking for work." Cliff said, frowning a bit. Cliff walked backwards from the cash register and back into his leaning position on the wall. The store owner folded his arms and tilted his head a bit.

"Any leads?" Walker asked desperately. Walker didn't need the money as much as he needed to keep himself occupied. Most people in their late thirties would be looking to settle down, but Walker couldn't have that. He felt that if he didn't keep himself occupied, he'd go senile.

"Nipton's been pretty quiet lately, you might wanna try there, but I can't give you any more than that." Cliff said, sighing.

Walker noticed this and decided to speak up, "Something wrong, Cliff?" The store owner shook his head in denial, and with nothing else to say, stood up straight, and walked into the storage closet. Walker didn't know what was in the closet, but he knew it couldn't be any bigger than an average motel bathroom. _Not gonna pry_, he thought.

Walker decided to take his leave. After exiting the store, he began to make his way towards Nipton. It was a dangerous road, but he could handle himself. After making his way past the motel, he began to head down the main road towards the next settlement. Walker suddenly felt the sensation of being watched again. He looked back and scanned the area. He saw the person watching him. The figure stood a few feet from a Securitron robot that he didn't see when he came into town. _Thing must've just shown up_, he thought. The figure next to the Securitron was short, looked about five foot six. The person wore a hood, obviously to conceal her identity. The leather armor she wore looked too big for her; it sagged a bit around the waist. He could tell it was a woman; the way she stood, and other obvious reasons gave that away.

_She knows I can see her,_ Walker thought. The man decided to play the 'dumb traveler' and look into the sky as he returned to walking undisturbed. He wasn't going to brave the roads to Nipton with someone shadowing him. Being distracted could get him killed. He quickly checked his inventory, the Combat knife was in his boot and the handgun was on his waste strap, along with the Hunting rifle slung onto his back. Still in Novac, he would get rid of her there. He saw a house up ahead that had a farm attached to it. The farm had three Brahmin and a rotting corpse of a dead one inside. He quickly glanced back.

She was following him again.

As Walker moved closer and closer to the house, he slowly began pulling the handgun out of its holster. He did it subtly, as to not alarm the woman behind him. He made it to the house and turned to stand behind it. He leaned his back against the wall and waited. After a long thirty seconds of sweat and anticipation, he saw the shadow of the woman. It happened quickly. The woman rounded the corner with her gun at the ready. Walker was prepared, though. Walker used his left hand to raise the womans firing hand. After dropping his handgun he used his free hand to grab her neck and swing her against the wall. He used his weight as an advantage as he slammed her body into the wall. The woman screamed out in pain as her head hit the wall harder than Walker intended it to. She continued to resist, but she had dropped her gun. Walker thought he might have killed her, but was relieved to find she was still conscious.

"Get the fuck off of me asshole!" She said. The voice wasn't high, as much as it was… young. She still wore the hood, so Walker couldn't see her face, since it was covered by the shadow from the apparel.

Walker put more pressure on the woman's neck, "Who are you, and why are you following me?" The woman started coughing and gasping for air. Walker didn't want to kill her without a good reason. He was a survivor, not a raider. Walker let go of the woman as she dropped to dirt below him. She was still coughing in fits as she tried to stand up. The woman slid her back against the wall and looked up at the man who had seemed so ready to kill her. They stared at each other for a while before the woman tried to make another move. She quickly moved over to where she dropped her handgun and tried to aim it at Walker, but the man was too quick.

Walker kicked the gun out of the woman's grasp and picked her up by the hood. Walker asked his question again, hoping that she would realize she wasn't going anywhere without answering it. "Fuck you!" She yelled. Walker was done with the charade and pulled the woman's hood off. The woman closed her eyes and turned her head to the side. _She's just a kid,_ he thought. She was short, he knew, but he didn't think a kid could make it out on her own. She had long brown hair that fell into the hood once loose. Her skin was clean, compared to his skin. She looked like she had just taken a bath.

"Go home. Stop following me." He stated. Walker picked up the gun she was using and checked for ammunition. There were four bullets in the gun, but there wasn't a bullet in the chamber. She couldn't have killed him even if he let her pull the trigger. Walker didn't load the chamber, but instead, tossed the gun to the side. He was assuming that she had a home to go to, and making it there was a whole different issue with the Legion attacking the roads more frequently. Walker decided to leave, and to make up lost time that could have been spent heading to Nipton.

When Walker turned his back and started to walk away, the girl spoke up, "I don't have a home anymore."

"Then find one," Walker said, not even looking back at the girl. Apparently, the girl didn't get the hint and decided to continue to follow Walker. The man sighed heavily, as he could hear her footsteps as she ran towards him. "No, you don't get to follow me." He said, still refusing to look at her.

"Why not?" She asked. She said it like she was trying to prove a point.

"You didn't answer my question." Walker said. The two were now walking along the main road towards Ranger station Charlie, which was one of the better looking Ranger stations he'd seen.

The girl walked ahead of Walker and turned around. She began to walk backwards and extended her hand, "Jamie."

"Walker." He replied, but decided against shaking her hand. Jamie had this smarmy smile that Walker absolutely hated. "Now go home." Walker told her again.

"Oh c'mon, I could be useful." She said, "And besides, you can't stop me from following you unless you shoot me, and I know you won't shoot me."

"You don't know me." Walker said faster than he should have. He glanced at Jamie and could see the smirk on her face. _She won_.

"So can I tag along?" She asked. She wasn't asking as much as she was rubbing salt in the wound. Walker wanted to say no, and he wasn't going to shoot her, so what other choice did he have?

"It's dangerous. Following me isn't good for your health, if you catch my drift. You wouldn't be the first person who died following me." Walker said. He cringed at the thought of the last person who died under his 'watch'. The duo had passed the Ranger station and were nearing a turn in the road which would lead them to a bridge, and then to Nipton.

"I can take care of myself!" Jamie proclaimed enthusiastically.

"Then before you try and pull a gun on somebody, make sure there's a bullet in the chamber." Walker replied. He grinned as he heard the girl check to see if he was right.

There was a slope going up that would reveal the road ahead, along with the bridge. When they reached the top of the small slope, Walker was almost surprised. "They're further out than they should be." He said. Jamie looked at the man with confusion in her eyes. "Were you living under a rock or something? See the billboard there?" Walker asked. The girl nodded in confirmation. "To the right, you can barely see a man who looks like he's wearing a fucking dress."

"So? Are they going to attack us or something?" Jamie responded. Walker was almost taken aback by her lack of knowledge. _How the hell has she made it this far without becoming a Legion slave, or dead?_ He thought to himself.

"No shit genius. It's Legion. If they aren't burning your house or raping your daughter, they're watching the roads for traveling merchants, caravans, things like that." He said. Jamie looked behind her almost instantly. No one was there, but she felt very tense all of a sudden. "What, what is it?" Walker asked, not seeing anything when he looked in the same direction as her. Walker had enough of staying in the open. That would be like asking Legion to kill the two of them. There was a large nearby rock that would be enough to cover the two of them, while maintaining the ability to keep an eye on the Legion raiders. "Forget it. C'mon, there's a rock over there that'll be suitable cover. Let's go!" He said, though Jamie appeared to be oblivious to his advice.

While moving to their cover, Jamie spoke up, "But we aren't Merchants or Traders or whatever." The two made it to the rock unseen, which wasn't a big accomplishment. Walker pulled the rifle off of his shoulder and peered through the scope to get a better view of the Legionnaires.

"Yeah, but we aren't Legion either." Walker said softly, trying not to exhaust too much breath. He could kill them if he was careful, but he didn't know how many there were, and he only saw the one. He would either have to be patient, or lucky, and he'd rather not rely on Lady Luck.

"What does that mean?" Jamie asked.

"What does it mean?!" Walker scoffed, "It means _we are profligates!_ I will be killed and put on a cross. You will be sold into slavery, an officer's wife if you're lucky." Walker said in a matter-of-fact tone, to display the Legions' disillusioned superiority complex. "Now shut up so I can see what goes down." He whispered sternly.

After around ten minutes of waiting, Walker could hear the bells of a Pack Brahmin. Peering through his scope, he could barely make out the head of a traveling merchant wearing a storm-chaser hat. "Are we going to help them?!" Jamie whispered urgently. Walker hadn't noticed it, but the girl had taken a pair of binoculars out of his pack.

"No."

"Why not?" Jamie retorted.

Walker put his rifle down at his side and quickly turned to the girl crouching next to him. He grabbed her arm tightly and moved close so that she would have to look at him. "Because, if we fire at them, they'll kill me. I'm not fit for dying yet, so no; we aren't going to help them." Walker said. He let go of Jamie's arm with a light push to clarify his sincerity. While Jamie felt utterly useless, Walker saw this as a golden opportunity. The Legion could patrol roads for caravans for days on end. Fortunately, with a caravan heading through, they'd need to haul the loot back to cottonwood cove, or a nearby camp.

The Caravan had just turned the corner off of the bridge, and right into the Legions trap. Gun shots went off in an instant. The caravan consisted of a young man and woman as the merchants, while the two mercenaries were hulking in stature. The mercenary's weren't packing much heat. Consisting of only a Laser pistol, and a ten millimeter hand gun, they didn't stand a chance against the legion marauders. The Legionnaires carried Cowboy Repeaters and Trail Carbines. When the shooting started, the merchants lost their nerve and hid behind the Brahmin, leaving the mercenaries to fend for themselves. The mercenaries concentrated their collective fire on the Legionnaire that was firing with the trail carbine. The man took a few hits before disintegrating into a pile of dust, leaving nothing but his cloths and weapons behind. The mercenaries didn't last long after that. The rest of the Legion highway patrol took care of the mercenaries soon after.

There were three Legionaries left at the end of the battle. Walker could see them through his scope. The merchants were still hiding behind the Brahmin, probably hoping the mercenaries had killed their attackers. "Poor bastards." Walker said aloud. The Legion raiders moved closer to the Brahmin. They wouldn't kill the Brahmin; it would be easier to get _them_ to move _their_ loot. The people hiding behind the Brahmin weren't so lucky. The men that were wearing all red decided it would be much easier to kill him and be done with it. A Legionnaire took a spear off of his back and impaled it through the merchant's throat, killing him instantly. They cut the man's head off and discarded it as if the deed was nothing more than a boring chore. The woman, however, wasn't so lucky. They tied her hands together and tied the rest of her to the Brahmin. After a few more minutes of looting, the Legionaries walked off the left side of the road, and eventually faded out of sight.

Jamie had stayed silent the whole time. She was sickened by the brutality she had just witnessed. She was almost scared. She spoke up almost instantly when the initial shock of what she just saw had ended. "What are they going to do to her?" She asked. Walker stood up and began to walk down the road cautiously with his new companion. He kept looking around for stragglers from the Legion raiders, obviously deciding to keep his rifle equipped. He didn't have much ammo for the damn thing, but twelve bullets are enough to kill twelve people, and there were only four Legionnaires in their party. _Minus the one that got vaporized._ Walker thought.

Walker almost missed what the girl had asked, but he thought it would be fair to answer her. "Well, if she's lucky, they'll rape her, and then kill her on the spot." He said. It's a shame that a statement like that one could come out so easily, but Walker knew that life wasn't easy.

Jamie could barely handle it as they moved closer to the gory road that was laid out before them. The mercenaries had their heads, but that was probably because the raiders were more focused on the young woman. Jamie's stomach began to feel weird, until it finally came out. Jamie dropped to her knees and vomited on the ground beneath her. Walker waited for her. After she finished vomiting, she asked Walker, "That's… I-If she's lucky?"

Walker could tell she was a newcomer to the wasteland, hidden in a house her entire life, maybe? Perhaps she lived with wealthy farm owners and didn't get out much. _But why would she run away?_ He thought. Walker could also tell that he was disturbing her. _Welcome to the wasteland._ "If she's not lucky, she'll still be raped, but probably shipped over to cottonwood cove to see if she's fit to be a slave. Which by my standards, is a pretty shitty way to live, if you could call it living." Walker explained.

_How could people do something like that?_ Was Jamie's first thought. "That's… horrible…" Jamie said. After a long pause between the two of them, she spoke up, "Where are we going again?" She asked after she stood up on her feet.

"Nipton."

"Right." She replied.

The two of them headed to and over the bridge leading them to a narrow road with two hills towering over them. "Wait." Walker said, putting his hand up. The two of them crouched and waited as Walker scouted the area with his Hunting rifle. The sun was going down, which means he had to finish scouting quickly and get through the valley quickly. "Shit." Walker said.

"What? What's wrong?" Jamie asked.

Walker handed her the rifle. Jamie was almost shocked he would even hand it to her. She hesitated for a second, but carefully took the gun. _Why would he trust me with a gun? Does he know I've never shot one before?_ Was her initial thought. "Look at the rock at the very top of the hill on the right." Walker told her. Jamie moved the scope accordingly. _There's someone standing there. He's got a rifle._ She thought.

"Well?" Walker asked.

"Well what?" Jamie replied.

"Are you going to shoot the fucking guy?" Walker asked. This was Walkers final test. Jamie never got to tell Walker where she was from. And naturally, Walker was a curious fellow.

Jamie held her breath as she looked through the scope. She was so nervous she was sweating. She hadn't felt this nervous in a long time. Though, nervous isn't the right word for the incident that happened so long ago, but it gave her the same feeling in her stomach. She lined the dot on the scope with the torso of the man standing on the rock. She slowly pulled the trigger while holding her breath. When the gun fired, she screamed. The scream echoed over the small valley. Walker snatched the rifle out of her hand quickly as he peered down the scope at the person on the rock.

"I think that would be the first time I've seen someone scared to death." Walker replied, a small smirk on his face.

"Did I hit him?" Jamie asked with her hand over her mouth. She was breathing heavily and still startled by the loud sound of the gun as she fired it. She had never tried to kill anybody before, and coincidentally, never had a real reason too. Walker laughed hysterically. "What!? What's so funny about me shooting a guy?!" Jamie almost yelled, but remained quiet enough to not have the Valley echo her voice again.

"Shoot him?! You didn't hit shit, but that guy was so scared that he lost his footing and fell to his death!" Walker barely said while still laughing. There were tears in his eyes from how hysterical the event had been, but the laughter wouldn't last. Suddenly, two bullets appeared to whiz by his head. "What the-" Walker began, but was cut off by the sound of more bullets whizzing by his head. The man stood up and grabbed Jamie tightly by the arm. He hauled her behind a crashed car that was lying not too far from the bridge. The engine was missing, which was good, considering that the shell of the car wouldn't blow up if you shot it with enough bullets.

"Who the hell are those guys?!" Jamie asked as she pulled her own gun from its holster. _Why couldn't I have brought more ammo with me?_ She thought. _I'm a terrible shot_. Aside from never being shot at before, she'd never seen so much death. Some would call her pure, others would call her innocent, but both words would be incorrect. She'd seen death, and she didn't like it. Jamie always thought people were civilized and kind, but she found out quickly that things like 'innocence' didn't last too long before they faded away. She'd like to think there was some of it left in her, but she didn't know. She slowly poked her head out from the left side of the car, but quickly moved back when a bullet sparked off of the car.

"Well, from their lack of decent clothing, I'd say they're Viper gunslingers. Though, it's kind of hard to get a good look when you're being shot at." Walker said, putting a small grin on his face.

_Real funny Walker. You're a fuckin' class act comedian. _Jamie thought to herself. "Can you kill them, please?" Jamie asked, semi-sarcastically. _Never thought I'd say that before._

"Yeah, let me pull out my magical-"

"Just fucking shoot them!" Jamie yelled, cutting Walker off. The grin on the man's face had dissipated, and a frown had appeared in its absence.

Walker lifted and pulled the bolt to release the empty bullet, and load a new one in the chamber. The man peered out of the right side of the crashed car and aimed for the shooter. _Idiot's standing in the middle of the street._ Walker thought. He slowly exhaled as he lightly squeezed the trigger. The Viper gunslingers lower left torso exploded into a pool of blood as the raider died before he hit the ground. Walker quickly moved back into the safety of cover as he loaded a new bullet in the chamber. He took a deep breath, "Not exactly where I wanted to shoot him, but it'll do." Walker chuckled to himself a bit, but silenced himself as he looked at Jamie and saw her crying. He put his gun down and moved closer to her. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Stop crying! Shit like this happens every day, and if you don't adapt, you'll die. You hear me?" Walker said. Jamie didn't appear to acknowledge him. Walker grabbed Jamie by the jaw and turned her head to face him. "Do you hear me!?"

"Y-yes." She replied hesitantly as Walker released her.

"Goddamnit…" Walker said under his breath.

_If I don't adapt I'll die. I don't want to adapt, not to this. But… but I have to._ Jamie thought to herself. She didn't know why she was crying. Maybe it was the Legion slavers, or maybe it was the crazy raiders trying to kill her. She couldn't handle it; at least, she didn't think she could.

"You're gonna die asshole!" A voice shouted from behind the two. A woman wearing painspike armor was running at the two of them from behind with a lead pipe.

Walker tried to pick up his hunting rifle and aim it at her, but when he was about to pull the trigger, the woman hit the barrel of the gun with the pipe, and the weapon fell to the ground. Walker didn't have time to draw a weapon, so he dove at the crazy bitch. He landed on top of the Viper and began throwing punches. He could only land a few hits before the raider found her pipe and hit him over the head with it. Walker felt his vision blur as he fell to the side of the raider. No longer did he regain his consciousness than did the raider was on top of him trying to finish him with a hit to the head. Walker held his arms up in an 'X' pattern as the woman continuously hit him with the lead pipe. He felt his arms getting weak, and if he tried to grab his knife, she'd kill him.

Suddenly, blood seemed to cloud Walkers vision. _Am I dead? Am I finally dead? _He thought. Death is a promise, but the _when_ is never guaranteed. Walker tried to move his arms and wipe his eyes off. Only his right arm was able to perform the task. When he looked to his left, he saw the body of a woman lying on his arm. She had a hole in her head. Walker quickly sat up and looked for Jamie. The young girl was sitting upside the car with the gun still aimed in Walker's direction, and her free hand over her mouth. _She saved my life._ Walker never placed his life in someone else's hands, and he would never sacrifice himself to save someone else. He wasn't noble, you don't survive on being noble, but here she was, some little girl who just killed a person to save his life.

Walker didn't have time to sentimentalize, however. The man picked up his rifle from the ground and stood up. He aimed through the scope to see if anyone else was coming. He saw one last raider running at him with a ten millimeter machine gun. The Viper was too far away to hit anything, but it didn't stop the degenerate from running at the man in the middle of the road, where one of his partners died only five minutes ago. Walker pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed. "Shit." He said to himself. Walker pulled the bullet out of his gun manually and checked the clip. The Viper was still a good distance away, but he could get lucky even at that range. Walker readied his gun again and fired. A bullet tore through the man's right shoulder. The Raider fell to the ground, but Walker didn't know if he was dead yet.

Walker looked down at the young girl. She hadn't moved. She was still holding the gun, and she still held her free hand over her mouth. Walker laid his gun on the roof of the car and crouched down to check on Jamie. "Hey, hey, give me that." He said softly as he took the gun from her. He wanted to test her knowledge of the wasteland, not break the damn girl. Jamie breathed so soft; you could barely hear it over the silence of the wasteland. Walker grabbed Jamie's arm softly as he helped her stand up from her seated position. Almost instantly, she hugged him. The man's arms spread out widely as he looked down at Jamie. He was confused as to why she was hugging him, and he honestly didn't know what to do. With the gun still in his right hand, he hesitantly moved his arms around her back and used his left hand to pat her. The man looked up as he did this. He was a little bit uncomfortable, and would like to keep moving. "C-C'mon, we have to keep moving." He said softly.

Jamie let go of him and wiped her wet eyes, "Okay." Jamie never got that emotional. Even back home, she was always calm, cool and collective. This was different. She had just killed someone. She never thought that she would be able to do something like that… never thought that she'd have to. _I just want to go back home. I want to forget all of this and pretend like it was some bad dream_. Were the reoccurring thoughts that Jamie had as Walker and herself made their way through the valley. Her biggest confusion was to why she had hugged Walker. She just met the man a half hour ago, and he'd already begun to keep her safe. She almost felt dependent on him, though, that could cause more problems than it could solve if she relied on him.

Walker and his new companion were headed straight for Nipton through a road that led in from the North. The town had smoke coming from the center of it, and in a brief moment of innocence, Walker thought there might be a bonfire and people were just hanging around. When reality finally snapped in, they were only seconds from walking into the center of the middle road. Jamie had walked ahead of him and came so close to walking past the house that protected them from the view of the town. He caught her just before stepped out into the open and pulled her aside to the wall of the house. She didn't question what he was doing.

Walker inched his way to the edge of the house and peeked around the corner. There were Powder Gangers, former NCR prisoners from the correctional facility, thieves, whores, and NCR troopers were being dragged out of houses and being huddled into the center of town. "What's going on?" Jamie whispered.

Walker didn't take his eyes off of the scene. "Legion."

"Those assholes again." Jamie said. Jamie moved in front of Walker and leaned against him as she scoured the area with her eyes. A was man wearing… a cat on his head? The man was giving everyone a piece of paper. "You see this shit?" Jamie asked.

Walker was about to say something, but a Legionnaire looked in their direction and the two of them quickly brought themselves back into cover. "Shit, move to the back of the house." Walker said urgently. Jamie did as she was asked and quickly moved to the back side of the house. Walker quickly followed, but noticed the shadow of the Legionnaire approaching the house. _Probably coming to see if they missed some of them._ Walker thought. Walker peeked out from the side, and noticed the man was carrying a ten millimeter pistol, and it was drawn. Fortunately, the Legionnaire held his gun with one hand, which would make it easier for Walker to disarm him.

The time had come. The Legionnaire turned the corner and Walker sprung at him quickly. The man held his gun in his left hand. Walker put his right hand on the gun, and his other on the man's wrist. He twisted the gun to the left, which would place the gun in his hands. Walker held the gun at the man's face but the Legionnaire was fast as he kicked walker below the waistline. He dropped the gun and fell to his knees as the Legion soldier pulled a machete from his sheath. The man raised his arm to drop the machete over Walkers head, but the soldier never hit his marks as he was tackled to the side. Jamie had landed on top of the Legion recruit and began punching him. The Legion recruit was trained though. He used his head to hit the young girls assaulting him. Jamie recoiled backwards and the man grabbed her by the neck and began hitting her. There was rage in his eyes as he brutally hit the girl with his fist repeatedly.

Jamie tried to struggle. She kicked and gagged, but to no avail. Eventually the kicks became weak sways of her legs, and her grip on the man's arm had loosened and become slack. Walker looked up at his companion and had decided to repay the favor that he owed her for saving his life. The man struggled to get back to his feet, but managed to perform the task. He pulled the knife from his boot and held it in his right hand with the blade protruding from the right. The Legionnaire saw him get up and threw the girl at the house as he slowly picked up his Machete. Jamie hit the wall and fell unconscious as her head made contact with the hard material of the building. Walker moved slowly towards the Legion soldier, breathing heavily as he struggled to recover from the blow.

The Legion recruit didn't yell for backup. Legionnaires aren't very honorable, but as close as you could get in terms of a fair fight. Walker was almost glad of this because he could get out of Nipton undetected… if he could kill the man standing in front of him. Before he knew it, Walker and the recruit were circling. It reminded him of a time he saw four fiends circling an NCR trooper before they killed and decapitated her. Very brutal. The recruit made the first move. He sprinted forward and jumped, while he was in mid-air, he raised his machete. He landed right in front of Walker as he brought his weapon down onto the ground. Walker had taken a step back to avoid the assault. The recruit had staggered on his landing, which gave room for Walker to return the gift. Walker swung his left hand and tried to slash the Legionnaire's throat, but was cut off when the recruit threw dirt in his eyes. Those were Great Khan tactics, but it didn't matter. _It's him or me_. Walker thought.

Walker recoiled as the dirt hit his eye but quickly recovered when he saw the Legionnaire move in for a second attack. Walker stepped to his left as the man brought his rusted weapon down upon where he used to be standing. Walker grabbed the man's arm and brought the steel knife into his throat. The Legionnaire had fallen, saving Walker the trouble of pulling it out himself. The recruit didn't even scream as his life slowly faded away on the ground at Walkers feat. Blood had splattered upon Walker and the ground around him. The man, the victor, used his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead, only to find that instead of sweat, it was blood. Walker didn't feel bad, sad, or glad. He never did; killing is a part of his nature. Walker put his knife back into his boot and made his way towards Jamie, who had not regained her consciousness yet.

_Does she live or die?_ Was his thought. Walker could easily put on the Legionnaire's armor and get out of there easily. They would look for the missing recruit, and by the time they found him, Walker would be half way to the Mojave Outpost. Walker took another look at the poor girl. Her face looked as if she'd been beaten with a baseball bat. _She saved my life twice. I only saved her once. Do I owe her? If they see me carrying her, they'll kill us both. But what if…_ Walker had stopped mid-thought as he hatched a plan that would get them both out of there, and make it easier to sneak past the Legionnaires. He might've felt a bit uncomfortable in any other circumstance, but he needed to get out of there, and she would help him whether she like it or not.

Walker kneeled down to the Legion recruit and removed his armor without problem. Walker took off his duster and combat armor. After throwing a few pieces of scrap metal out of his pack, he was able to fit both of the clothing items inside of his sack. The Mojave air was warm, yet he felt the light breeze refreshing on his skin. He slowly put the dead man's armor on, slowly; making sure every strap was tightened and tied correctly. He picked up his rifle that he had dropped during the fight and slung it over his shoulder. After standing up, he took one last look at the man he'd killed no more than five minutes ago. He'd almost wished the recruit had worn a helmet, but if everything went according to plan, Walker wouldn't need it. He made his way over to the young girl who had saved his life two times, and no more. Crouching at her unconscious body, he began to removed her Leather armor.

_Fuck I hope she's wearing clothes under this thing_. Walker thought as he began to undo the straps that latched the armor to Jamie's body. Fortunately for her dignity, she had worn a bra and undergarments, but that was it. She was extremely white, almost pale, as if she hadn't seen the outside world in a long time. Walker removed the hood from her head and let her brown hair fall to the dirty ground. If she had any innocence left in her, it would be gone by the time she woke up. Walker hadn't looked through the Legionnaire's pack, but he knew what was in there. After searching through the dead man's pack he found a collar and chain. _She'll be the slave. As long as she doesn't wake up and call me by my name, I should be golden. _ He thought. Walker connected the collar around her throat, and although he didn't want to do it, he made sure to tighten the collar enough so that her skin would bulge a bit around the top and bottom. After connecting the chain to the collar he picked her up and threw her unconscious body over his shoulder.

"Gah, fuck me. Don't wake up you clueless, annoying, asinine little girl." Walker kept repeating as he slowly walked across the road that would lead him out of Nipton by following the path he had entered the town with. He couldn't resist his urge to look at what was going down in the center of the town. He saw Veteran Legionnaires putting up crosses. The man wearing the weird animal hat was calling out numbers and people were being decapitated. Walker could have sworn he saw the man look at him. He made it out of Nipton without any more trouble. There was an abandoned building ahead, and it looked like it had a second story. Walker looked up; he saw the sun begin to fall. He couldn't walk into the Mojave outpost looking like he did, and especially not with a little girl who looked like she'd been beaten half to death.

After approaching the abandoned house and checking around for any hostile inhabitants, Walker checked to see if there was still a second floor to stay on. There was, but there wasn't any stairs to access that second floor. He'd have to climb it. There was a window that he could step on, and then climb onto the second floor. His arm was getting tired of holding Jamie, but he had enough energy to get her up to the second floor. After stepping up onto the window, he carefully placed her on the second floor, and then, climbed on the floor himself. He wouldn't start a fire because he wasn't sure if anyone was around, or if there was any Legion scouts poking about. Walker dragged himself into the corner of the abandoned house (Though, he realized it felt more like a pre-war work building).

Walker still had the chain in his hand. He dragged Jamie over next to him and removed her collar. He threw the collar and its matching chain onto the road behind them. Walker also removed his stolen Legion uniform and threw that on the side of the road along with the other items. He searched through his pack and pulled out his combat armor. He put the combat grieves on, but put the armor back inside of his bag. He still wore his plain white shirt that had been given to him a long time ago, that looked as if it had been dragged through the mud. He kept searching through his bag until he found his bounty hunter duster at the bottom. He took it out and examined it. He had left the girls leather armor at Nipton since he couldn't fit it in his bag, so he needed to give her something. It was a little big, but who was she to complain?

Walker lifted her body up and placed it in the laid out duster. He then made sure she was securely wrapped in the clothing so she wouldn't freeze to death in the Mojave's especially cold nights. Walker paused for a second, _Why should I care?_ It was too late to take the duster off of her, so he just finished tightening the thing around her and leaned back against the wall. He didn't sleep. He never sleeps. Not anymore at least. Walker had seen too many things and been through the worst, and though he knew people that had it worse than he did, he felt so especially tortured. It's the Mojave wasteland after all. _Adapt or die._ Walker thought. Walker took one more look to his left and made sure to watch over Jamie the entire night. He still wanted to know where she came from, or how she had survived so long in the wastes. She didn't look strong enough to do a couple of sit-ups let alone survive post-apocalyptic America.

_Adapt or die. _


End file.
